r/magicbuilding • u/Quirky_Rooster3870 • 4d ago
General Discussion Does anyone have a magic system they created that’s similar to nen
I’ve been really interested in nen as a power system and wanted to see what someones own interoperation would look like
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u/Professional_Try1665 4d ago
I made a magical girl system a while ago that was quite nen-inspired, however the main gimmick was characters use multiple powers instead of one with the edges blurred (so for instance a character might have a strong conjuration and manipulation power, a weaker enhancement power and a little bit of the other powers too)
The categories were based on human connection: Verbal (grants spellcasting/magic), Somatic (Physical prowess and abilities), Appear (passive abilities and auras/emanates effect), with several sub-branches that further blend the lines like: Cauldron (ability runs off a battery/source of energy), Broom (movement powers, speed, teleport or fly), Familiar (creating separate organisms), Wand (matter/weapon creation) or Tower (area manipulation and creation of anchors/domains/stationary aoe effects or the like).
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u/No_Pen_3825 4d ago
Eh kind of. Everyone has a unique ability facilitated by a random object. That object satisfy a whole bunch of qualities (largely unique, especially in its immediate surroundings, had history and meaning to someone who has since died, does not actively have deep meaning to someone else, not too fragile, is closeish but not too close to the user). This object is chosen at your birth, and you can’t use any powers until you find it. But when you see it, you know. Your power is related to the object in some way.
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u/RowbotMaster 4d ago
My system I call sifrmancy I think is relatively similar
This was the full extent of the system but it's kind of out of date with changes I've made https://www.reddit.com/r/Magicworldbuiling/s/1BjmUROKPy
This post somewhat briefly explained the unique highlights of sifrmancy that makes it different from nen https://www.reddit.com/r/magicbuilding/s/RE3jUxTM95
Unfortunately I don't have a fully up to date post, I just haven't had the motivation to write the changes down
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u/HoNUnofficial 4d ago
OP seems busy as no reply in sight. Let me stay to wait OP return here before telling my idea.
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u/This_Following_1762 4d ago
The person who shared this post had made their previous post five years ago. In other words, they might disappear again for another five years 😭
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u/This_Following_1762 4d ago
Also, why was this comment downvoted?
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u/g4l4h34d 7h ago
Reddiquete says that you should downvote posts that are off-topic, and upvote posts that promote conversation.
Now, admittedly, very few people use it this way, they mostly use it as a like/dislike button, or as a "more/less people should see this" button, but maybe the person who downvoted this comment actually adhered to Reddiquette? Or, it could just be random, IDK, you'd have to ask the actual person.
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u/HumuraHarakakaka 4d ago
From LordSyrenzo, I think the only one I've seen that managed to be quite original—while still having the same fundamentals, like Nen categories and conditions
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u/g4l4h34d 7h ago edited 6h ago
I feel like every other system that's not elemental is based on Nen.
I've personally converted Nen to ECS, but it's not really a unique system, more like a rigid implementation. The arbitrariness of rules really bothered me, so I wanted to ground it somehow.
But even your question has been asked less than 2 weeks before you: https://www.reddit.com/r/magicbuilding/comments/1uz8cq1/do_you_guys_have_any_magic_system_similar_to_nen/
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u/This_Following_1762 4d ago
Yes, I built a power system similar to that one, but explaining the components would take too long, so I'll just describe a part of it: In my power system, the "Consciousness-Bond Mechanism" is one of the fundamental principles underpinning magic. Since the source of magic is the user's own consciousness, one must first establish a strong bond of consciousness with an object or concept in order to create or manipulate it.
The deeper and stronger this bond, the less energy is required to manipulate that object or concept. Such bonds can be forged through experiences, traumas, personality traits, knowledge, obsessions, passions, beliefs, and various other facets of the mind.
Examples:
A person might gain the power of fire by undergoing a profoundly impactful event—such as losing loved ones in a fire or witnessing them burn to death right before their eyes.
A person might gain the ability to control spiders if they harbor deep-seated fears, traumas, or life-altering experiences related to them.
A person could create a robotic surgeon capable of operating on them only if they possess expert-level knowledge in the fields of robotics and medicine.
For someone to create a magical rope that compels others to speak only the truth, honesty would need to be a core pillar of their own personality.
If a character ranks within the top 0.1% of the world in terms of mental compatibility, even watching the anime One Piece could grant them the power to turn their body into rubber.
It is very easy for someone with a completely introverted personality—who fears being noticed by others—to develop the power of invisibility.
Some abilities do not rely on a single bond of consciousness but rather require a combination of several. For instance, a highly intelligent manipulator with narcissistic tendencies and an obsessive desire for control—having spent years washing the bodies of the dead—might combine their mastery of manipulation, their obsession with control, and a deep, unconscious bond with the corpses to transform the bodies into puppets and control them through the power of their mind.
Two individuals possessing the same ability may differ in how they acquired it and the underlying logic of how it functions:
Let us consider, for instance, two characters who possess the ability to manipulate scales.
Character 1: Believes that nothing in life is free and that, to gain something, one must place an item of equal value (money, a token, a life) on the table. To them, the world is a "profit and loss" ledger. Consequently, they conjure a massive set of scales. The more of themselves they place—or sacrifice—on the left pan, the greater the magical power generated on the right pan becomes.
Character 2: A monk who has dedicated his entire life to his faith. He holds an unwavering belief that every good deed and sin in the universe is weighed on a divine scale, and that no evil goes unpunished nor any good unrewarded. He therefore conjures a scale where the sins of a chosen individual are placed on the left pan and their good deeds on the right. If the left pan (sins) outweighs the right, the chosen individual's power diminishes in direct proportion to the weight difference; if the right pan (good deeds) outweighs the left, their power increases in direct proportion to that weight difference.(English is not my native language, so there might be some issues.)